The attack on the Soviet Union took place without a declaration of war in the morning hours of June 22, 1941. Despite the long preparations for war, the attack turned out to be completely unexpected for the USSR, since the German leadership did not even have a pretext for an attack.

The military events of the first weeks inspired full hope for the success of the next "blitzkrieg". Armored formations advanced quickly and occupied vast expanses of the country. In major battles and in encirclement, the Soviet Army suffered millions of casualties in killed and captured. A large number of military equipment was destroyed or captured as trophies. Again, it seemed that the doubts and feelings of fear that had spread in Germany, despite careful ideological preparation, had been refuted by the successes of the Wehrmacht. The Church Board of Trustees of the German Evangelical Church expressed the feelings that gripped many, assuring Hitler by telegraph that "he is supported by all the evangelical Christianity of the Reich in the decisive battles with the mortal enemy of order and Western Christian culture."

The successes of the Wehrmacht evoked various reactions from the Soviet side. There were manifestations of panic and confusion, the soldiers left their military units. And even Stalin first addressed the population only on July 3. In areas captured or annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939/40. part of the population welcomed the Germans as liberators. Nevertheless, from the first day of the war, Soviet troops offered unexpectedly strong resistance even in the most hopeless situations. And the civilian population actively participated in the evacuation and movement of militarily important industrial facilities beyond the Urals.

Persistent Soviet resistance and the heavy losses of the German Wehrmacht (until December 1, 1941, about 200,000 killed and missing, almost 500,000 wounded) soon disproved the German hopes for an easy and quick victory. Autumn mud, snow and a terrible cold in winter interfered with the military operations of the Wehrmacht. The German army was not prepared for the war in winter conditions, it was believed that by this time victory would have been achieved. An attempt to capture Moscow as the political center of the Soviet Union failed, although German troops approached the city at a distance of 30 kilometers. In early December, the Soviet Army unexpectedly launched a counteroffensive, which was successful not only near Moscow, but also in other sectors of the front. Thus, the concept of blitzkrieg was finally wrecked.

In the summer of 1942, new forces were accumulated to advance in a southerly direction. Although the German troops managed to capture large territories and advance as far as the Caucasus, they could not fortify anywhere. The oil fields were in Soviet hands, and Stalingrad became a foothold on the western bank of the Volga. In November 1942, the line of the German fronts in the territory of the Soviet Union reached its greatest extent, but there could be no question of a decisive success.

Chronicle of the war from June 1941 to November 1942

22.6.41. The beginning of the German attack, the advancement of three army groups. Romania, Italy, Slovakia, Finland and Hungary entered the war on the side of Germany.

29/30.6.41 The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b) declares war a "patriotic" war of all the people; formation of the State Defense Committee.

July August. The German offensive along the entire front, the destruction of large Soviet formations in the environment (Bialystok and Minsk: 328,000 prisoners, Smolensk: 310,000 prisoners).

September. Leningrad is cut off from the rest of the country. East of Kyiv, over 600,000 Soviet soldiers were captured and surrounded. The general offensive of the German troops, which are suffering heavy losses, is slowed down due to the constant resistance of the Soviet Army.

2.10.41. The beginning of the offensive on Moscow, some sections of the front line at the end of November were 30 km from Moscow.

5.12.41. The beginning of the Soviet counter-offensive with fresh forces near Moscow, the German retreat. After the intervention of Hitler, the stabilization of the defensive positions of Army Group Center in January 1942 at the cost of heavy losses. Soviet success in the south.

12/11/41. Germany declares war on the USA.

In 1941, the Soviet Army lost 1.5 - 2.5 million soldiers killed and about 3 million prisoners. The number of civilian deaths is not precisely established, but it is estimated in the millions. Losses of the German army - about 200,000 people killed and missing.

January - March 1942 A wide winter offensive of the Soviet Army, partly successful, but not reaching its goals due to heavy losses. The losses of the German army in manpower and equipment were also so great that the continuation of the offensive on a broad front turned out to be impossible at the moment.

May. The failure of the Soviet offensive near Kharkov; during the counteroffensive, 250,000 Soviet soldiers were surrounded and taken prisoner.

June July. The capture of the fortress of Sevastopol and thus the entire Crimea. The beginning of the German summer offensive, with the aim of reaching the Volga and capturing oil fields in the Caucasus. The Soviet side, in view of the new victories of Germany, is in a state of crisis.

August. German troops reach the Caucasus Mountains, but fail to inflict a decisive defeat on the Soviet troops.

September. The beginning of the battles for Stalingrad, which in October was almost completely captured by the Germans. Nevertheless, the Soviet bridgehead on the western bank of the Volga under the command of General Chuikov could not be destroyed.

9.11.42. Beginning of the Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad.

50 The Soviet population listens in the street to the government message about the beginning of the war, 22.6.1941.

Text 33
From a speech on the radio by People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov on 22 June 1941

Citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union! The Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin, have instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without declaring any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities - Zhitomir, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, moreover, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from the Romanian and Finnish territories. This unheard-of attack on our country is treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression pact was concluded between the USSR and Germany, and the Soviet government fulfilled all the conditions of this pact in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire period of the validity of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the USSR regarding the fulfillment of the treaty. All responsibility for this robbery attack on the Soviet Union will fall entirely on the German fascist rulers. [...]

This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose sufferings we understand very well, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples . [...]

This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking, conceited enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon's campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War, and Napoleon was defeated and came to his own collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will once again wage a victorious patriotic war for the Motherland, for honor, for freedom.

Text 34
An excerpt from the diary of Elena Scriabina dated 22.6.1941 about the news of the German attack.

Molotov's speech sounded haltingly, hurriedly, as if he were out of breath. His encouragement sounded completely out of place. Immediately there was a feeling that a monster was approaching menacingly, slowly and terrified everyone. After the news, I ran out into the street. The city was in a panic. People hurriedly exchanged a few words, rushed to the shops and bought everything that came to hand. As if beside themselves, they rushed about the streets, many went to the savings banks to collect their savings. This wave swept over me too, and I tried to get rubles from my passbook. But I came too late, the cashier was empty, the payment was suspended, everyone around was noisy, complaining. And the June day was blazing, the heat was unbearable, someone felt ill, someone cursed in despair. All day the mood was restless and tense. Only in the evening it became strangely quiet. It seemed that everyone was somewhere huddled with horror.

Text 35
Excerpts from the diary of NKVD major Shabalin from 6 to 19 October 1941

Major Shabalin died on 20.10. when trying to get out of the environment. The diary was transferred to the German army for military analysis. Back translation from German; the original is lost.

Diary
Major NKVD Shabalin,
head of the special department of the NKVD
at 50 army

for the accuracy of transmission
Chief of Staff of the 2nd Tank Army
Signed Frh.f. Liebenstein
[...]

The army is not what we used to think and imagine at home. Huge lack of everything. The attacks of our armies are disappointing.

We are interrogating a red-haired German prisoner, a shabby guy, covered in shrouds, extremely stupid. [...]

The situation with the personnel is very difficult, almost the entire army consists of people whose native places have been captured by the Germans. They want to go home. Inactivity at the front, sitting in the trenches demoralize the Red Army. There are cases of drunkenness of command and political personnel. People sometimes do not return from reconnaissance. [...]

The enemy has encircled us. Continuous cannonade. Duel of artillerymen, mortarmen and submachine gunners. Danger and fear almost the whole day. I'm not talking anymore about the forest, the swamp and the lodging for the night. Since the 12th I have not slept any more, since October 8th I have not read a single newspaper.

Creepy! I wander, around the corpses, the horrors of war, continuous shelling! Again hungry and without sleep. He took a bottle of alcohol. Went to the forest to explore. Our complete annihilation is evident. The army is defeated, the convoy is destroyed. I am writing in the woods by the fire. In the morning I lost all the Chekists, I was left alone among strangers. The army collapsed.

I spent the night in the forest. I haven't eaten bread for three days. There are a lot of Red Army soldiers in the forest; there are no commanders. Throughout the night and in the morning the Germans shelled the forest with weapons of all kinds. At about 7 o'clock in the morning we got up and went north. Shooting continues. At the halt, I washed up. [...]

All night we walked in the rain through the swampy terrain. Endless darkness. I was soaked to the skin, my right leg was swollen; terribly hard to walk.

Text 36
Field mail letter from non-commissioned officer Robert Rupp to his wife dated July 1, 1941 about the attitude towards Soviet prisoners of war.

They say that the Fuhrer's order was issued that prisoners and those who surrender are no longer subject to execution. It makes me happy. Finally! Many of the executed, whom I saw on the ground, were lying with their hands raised up, without weapons and even without a belt. I have seen at least a hundred of them. They say that even a truce envoy walking with a white flag was shot dead! After dinner, they said that the Russians were surrendering in whole companies. The method was bad. Even the wounded were shot.

Text 37
Diary entry of the former ambassador Ulrich von Hassell dated 18.8.1941 regarding the war crimes of the Wehrmacht.

Ulrich von Hassell took an active part in the anti-Hitler Resistance of conservative circles and was executed after the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944.

18. 8. 41 [...]

The whole war in the east is terrible, the general savagery. One young officer received an order to destroy 350 civilians driven into a large barn, among whom were women and children, at first refused to do this, but he was told that this was a failure to comply with the order, after which he asked for 10 minutes to think and finally did it , sending, together with some others, machine-gun bursts into the open door of the shed into a crowd of people, and then, finishing off the still alive from machine guns. He was so shocked by this that later, having received a slight wound, he firmly decided not to return to the front.

Text 38
Excerpts from the order of the commander of the 17th Army, Colonel General Hoth, dated 11/17/1941, regarding the basic principles of warfare.

Command
17th Army A.Gef.St.,
1a No. 0973/41 secret. dated 17.11.41
[...]

2. The campaign to the East must end differently than, for example, the war against the French. This summer it becomes more and more clear to us that here, in the East, two internally irresistible views are fighting against each other: the German sense of honor and race, the centuries-old German army against the Asiatic type of thinking and primitive instincts, fueled by a small number of mostly Jewish intellectuals: fear of whip, disregard for moral values, equalization of the lower, neglect of one's life of no value.

51 German Junkere Ju-87 (Shtukas) dive bombers take off from a field airfield in the Soviet Union, 1941.

52 German infantry on the march, 1941

53 Soviet prisoners dig their own grave, 1941.

54 Soviet prisoners before execution, 1941. Both photographs (53 and 54) were in the wallet of a German soldier who died near Moscow. The place and circumstances of the execution are unknown.

More strongly than ever, we believe in a historical turning point, when the German people, by virtue of the superiority of their race and their successes, will assume control of Europe. We are more clearly aware of our calling to save European culture from Asiatic barbarism. Now we know that we have to fight an embittered and stubborn enemy. This struggle can only end in the annihilation of one side or the other; there can be no agreement. [...]

6. I demand that every soldier of the army should be imbued with pride in our successes, with a sense of unconditional superiority. We are the masters of this country which we have conquered. Our feeling of dominance is expressed not in satiety, not in contemptuous behavior, and not even in the selfish abuse of power by individuals, but in a conscious opposition to Bolshevism, in strict discipline, inflexible determination and tireless vigilance.

8. There should be absolutely no place for sympathy and gentleness towards the population. The Red soldiers brutally killed our wounded; they dealt cruelly with the prisoners and killed them. We must remember this if the population, which once endured the Bolshevik yoke, now wants to receive us with joy and worship. The Volksdeutsche should be treated with a sense of self-awareness and with calm restraint. The fight against impending food difficulties should be left to the self-government of the enemy population. Any trace of active or passive resistance, or any machinations of Bolshevik-Jewish instigators, must be eradicated immediately. The need for harsh measures against elements hostile to the people and our policy must be understood by the soldiers. [...]

Behind everyday life, we should not lose sight of the worldwide significance of our struggle against Soviet Russia. The Russian masses have been paralyzing Europe for two centuries now. The need to take Russia into account and the fear of her possible attack constantly dominated political relations in Europe and hampered peaceful development. Russia is not a European, but an Asian state. Each step into the depths of this dull, enslaved country allows you to see this difference. From this pressure and from the destructive forces of Bolshevism, Europe and especially Germany must be liberated forever.

For this we fight and work.

Commander Hoth (signed)
Send to the following units: regiments and separate battalions, including construction and service units, to the commander of the patrol service; distributor 1a; reserve = 10 copies.

Text 39
Report of the commander of the rear of the 2nd Panzer Army, General von Schenckendorff dated 24. 3. 1942 regarding looting.

Commander of the 2nd Panzer Army 24.3.42
Rel.: unauthorized requisition;
Appendix

1) The commander of the rear of the 2nd Panzer Army in a daily report dated 23.2.42: “Unauthorized requisition by German soldiers near Navlya is increasing. From Gremyachey (28 km southwest of Karachev), soldiers from the area of ​​Karachevo took away 76 cows without a certificate, from Plastovoye (32 km southwest of Karachev) - 69 cows. Not a single head of cattle remained in either place. In addition, the Russian law enforcement service was disarmed in Plastovoi; the next day the settlement was occupied by partisans. In the area of ​​Sinezerko (25 km south of Bryansk), the soldiers of the platoon commander, Fellow Sebastian (code 2), wildly requisitioned cattle, and in a neighboring village they shot at the village headman and his assistants. [...]

Increasingly, these cases are being reported. In this regard, I especially point out the issued orders on the conduct of troops and their supply in the country in accordance with the order. They are once again reflected in the application.

The Second World War arose on the basis of ignorance, anti-humanity and political immorality of that era. Three decades of the twentieth century included the First World War, the collapse of empires, a series of bloody civil wars, famine, "war communism", the most severe repressions, totalitarianism in different countries and different forms, economic crises, the depreciation of life, the trampling of the individual, the violation of age-old norms of morality . Legal nihilism and even legal madness reigned.

Extremes of the 20th century: the rise of technology and the "black hole" of political morality.

The position of German Nazism was cynically voiced by Hitler: "There is no morality in international affairs, everyone grabs what he can." Or: “Iron law should be: “Never be allowed to carry weapons other than Germans.”

The memo to the soldiers of the Nazi Wehrmacht stated: “... Not a single world power can resist the German pressure. We will bring the whole world to its knees. The German is the absolute master of the world. You will decide the fate of England, Russia, America. You are a German, as befits a German, destroy all living things that resist on your way ... Tomorrow the whole world will kneel before you ... ”(“ Soviet Russia ”, June 22, 1989)

Hitler created a nation of Aryan blood with a Nordic character, cruel, arrogant, who, according to his plan, would have the qualities of a "super nation" to rule Europe and the world.

Three months before the German attack on the USSR, the chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht ground forces, Colonel-General F. Halder, wrote in his diary: “03/30/1941 11.00. Big meeting with the Fuhrer. Almost 2.5-hour speech: a review of the situation after 06/30/1940. Our tasks in Russia are: to defeat the armed forces, to destroy the state…”

“The struggle of two ideologies… The great danger of communism for the future. We must proceed from the principle of soldier's camaraderie. The communist has never been and never will be our comrade. It's about fighting for destruction. If we do not look like this, then, although we will defeat the enemy, in 30 years the communist danger will arise again. We are not fighting to conserve our opponent.

Future political map of Russia: Northern Russia belongs to Finland, protectorates in the Baltic States, Ukraine, Belarus - to Germany.

The struggle against Russia: the destruction of the Bolshevik commissars and the communist intelligentsia. The new states must be socialist, but without their own intelligentsia. We must not allow a new intelligentsia to form. Here only the primitive socialist intelligentsia will suffice...

The war will be very different from the war in the West. In the East, cruelty is a boon for the future. Commanders must make sacrifices and overcome their hesitation…”

“... I have the impression that at the moment the world is being redistributed, and not in the way it has been done until now... We need living space... When this war is over, we will become the masters of Europe... Then we will have raw materials and resources, and then a large colonial empire will become our property ... The final act is being played out now. This drama will end with a German victory…”

The former chief of Hitler's foreign intelligence SD, Walter Schellenberg, in the book "Labyrinth" outlined Hitler's position regarding the war with Russia: The Germans completely dominated the mainland. Therefore, it is now possible to attack Russia, without any risk of getting involved in a war on two fronts ... A conflict with Russia, sooner or later, but must occur. Therefore, it is better to prevent the danger right now, when we can still be confident in our abilities. The General Staff is fully convinced of this. Surprise is of the utmost importance. Thanks to her, the Russian campaign will be successfully completed, at least by Christmas 1941.

Only Canaris (the head of the Abwehr) did not share the Fuhrer's point of view. However, it was useless to protest. His warnings only led to the fact that they already began to look askance at him.

On June 22, 1941, Colonel General Halder wrote in his diary: “I have just described the plan of the Russian campaign to the Fuhrer: Russian troops will be destroyed in six weeks…”

"Hitler's plan was to divide Russia and rule it as a colony, ignoring the aspirations of the heterogeneous nationalities of the Soviet Union for autonomy."

On June 22, 1941, Hitler's appeal to the German people was published, which ended with the words: “People of Germany! The military events unfolding at the present time in their scale far exceed all those that mankind has ever experienced.

At 03:30 on June 22, 1941, Germany, together with its allies, attacked the USSR.

Parts of the Red Army were forced to engage in heavy fighting without the necessary training and without completing the strategic deployment. They were staffed with only 60-70% of the wartime staff, with a limited amount of materiel, transport, communications, often without air and artillery support.

Nevertheless, stubborn resistance was offered to the enemy.

From the memoirs of a war invalid, retired officer P.M. Chaplin:

“I started the war from the first day. He then served on the real in Belarus, not far from the border. The enemy's attack took us unforgivably by surprise. The commanders were on vacation. Weapons in deep conservation, in warehouses. Technique is broken. Tanks from planes being flushed... There were a lot of our troops in the western sector. The physical training, endurance and morale of the soldiers were at their best ... But our combat strength, power (it was!) Did not find proper use, was not reasonably and timely put into action ... The enemy destroyed, smashed, cut, shredded our areas ... “defense ', invaded the interior of the country.

Our warriors fought desperately, bravely, to the death. They entered into hand-to-hand fights, struck with a bullet, a bayonet, a butt ... But these are episodes. The overall picture was tragic, not in our favor. The enemy was armed to the teeth. The Germans with machine guns, and we often with training rifles, and then one for two ... Gritting our teeth, with pain in our hearts, we retreated, retreated ... made numerous victims.

(“Pravda”, 06/22/1991)

From the statement of Colonel-General Khadzhi Mamsurov:

“... It is difficult to imagine a great stupidity in the state military policy, when the system of fortified areas, well developed, armed and prepared along the old border with the Baltic countries, Poland and Romania, which cost the Soviet people huge amounts of money, was destroyed in connection with the withdrawal of our troops to the west of the former borders (after the annexation of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus) by an average of 100-300 kilometers ... without building a new line of defensive lines ... "

From the post-war memoirs of Marshal Zhukov.

Zhukov reported to Stalin on the phone about the German air raids on Kyiv, Minsk, Sevastopol, Vilnius and other cities. It was at 3:25 am.

Stalin was breathing heavily into the receiver and did not say anything. Zhukov: "Comrade Stalin, do you understand me?"

At 4:30 on June 22, S.K. Timoshenko and G.K. Zhukov arrived in the Kremlin. The members of the Politburo were already assembled.

Stalin was pale and sat at the table, holding a pipe in his hands. He said: "We must urgently call the German embassy."

The embassy replied that the ambassador asked to receive him for an urgent message. V.M. was instructed to receive the ambassador. Molotov.

Meanwhile, the 1st Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General N.F. Vatutin, reported that the German ground forces, after heavy artillery fire in a number of sectors of the northwestern and western directions, went on the offensive.

After a while, Molotov quickly entered the office: "The German government has declared war on us."

Stalin silently sank into a chair and thought deeply. There was a long, painful pause. "Give us a directive," said Stalin.

At 07:15 on June 22, Directive No. 2 of the People's Commissar for Defense was handed over to the districts. But in the current situation, it turned out to be unrealistic, and therefore was not put into practice.

Western Special Military District.

“To the commanders of the 3rd, 4th 10th armies I convey the order of the People's Commissar of Defense for immediate execution:

1. During 22–23.641, a surprise German attack is possible on the fronts of the LVO, PribOVO, ZapOVO, KOVO, and ODVO.

The German attack may start with provocative actions.

2. The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications.

At the same time, the troops of the LVO., PribOVO, KOVO and ODVO should be in full combat readiness to meet a sudden attack by the Germans or their allies.

3. I order:

a) during the night on June 22, 1941, covertly occupy the firing points of fortified areas on the state border;

b) before dawn on June 22, 1941, disperse all aviation, including military aviation, over field airfields, carefully disguise it;

c) put all units on combat readiness without an additional rise in assigned staff, prepare all measures to darken cities and objects.

Do not conduct any other activities without special instructions.

Shaposhnikov, Zhukov

Pavlov, Fomin, Klimovskikh.

From the order on the conduct of German troops in the East:

“... The main goal of the campaign against the Bolshevik system is the complete defeat of state power and the eradication of Asian influence on European culture ...

…Providing food for local residents and prisoners of war is unnecessary humanity…

... The troops are interested in extinguishing fires only in those buildings that should be used for parking of military units. Everything else, which is a symbol of the former domination of the Bolsheviks, including buildings, must be destroyed. No historical or artistic value in the East matters.

In the event of the use of weapons in the rear of the army by individual partisans, take decisive and cruel measures against them.

... Without going into political considerations for the future, the soldier must perform a twofold task:

1. Complete destruction of the Bolshevik heresy, the Soviet state and its armed forces.

2. Ruthless eradication of enemy cunning and cruelty and thereby ensuring the safety of life of the German Armed Forces in Russia.

Only in this way can we fulfill our historic mission of liberating the German people forever from the Asiatic-Jewish danger.

Commander-in-Chief von Reichenau, Field Marshal General.

Hermann Goth, Colonel General, Commander of the German 3rd Panzer Group:

“On the first day, the offensive went completely according to plan. The strategic attack, despite the concentration of large masses of troops along the entire Soviet-German border on the night before the offensive, was crowned with success. For the 3rd Panzer Group, it was a great surprise that all three bridges across the Neman, the capture of which was part of the task of the group, were captured intact. A captured Russian sapper officer said that he had an order to blow up the bridges in Alytus at 13.00 ...

Both divisions of the 5th Army Tank Corps, immediately after crossing the border, east of the city of Sejny, ran into the enemy's dug-in guards, which, despite the lack of artillery support, held their positions to the last. On the way to further advance to the Neman, our troops all the time met with stubborn resistance from the Russians ... "

Heinz Guderian, commander of the 2nd Panzer Group, Colonel General:

“On June 20 and 21, I was in the forward units of my corps, checking their readiness for the offensive. Careful observation of the Russians convinced me that they did not suspect anything of our intentions ... The coastal fortifications along the Western Bug were not occupied by Russian troops ... The prospects for maintaining the moment of surprise were so great that the question arose: is it worth carrying out artillery preparation under such circumstances? »

Rudolf Gshepf (Brest Fortress):

“We believed that everything in the fortress was turned into a pile of ruins. Immediately after the artillery preparation, the infantry began to cross the Bug and tried to take the fortress with a quick and energetic throw, using the moment of surprise of the offensive. It was at this point that bitter disappointment arose. The Russians were raised by our fire from their beds, for the first prisoners were in their underwear. But they recovered surprisingly quickly, formed into battle groups behind our companies and began a desperate, stubborn and organized defense. Our losses in people, and especially in officers, soon assumed incredible proportions.

The command of the German Army Group Center gave the following general assessment of the situation by the end of June 22: “Our offensive came as a complete surprise to the enemy. Field fortifications either have no garrisons at all, or have very weak garrisons. Separate concrete pillboxes continue to stubbornly resist. And in the reports of the headquarters of other German formations, the assertions that "the Soviet troops of the border districts were taken by surprise" predominate. However, judging by the documents, already on the second day of the invasion, our troops began to put up stubborn resistance.

A more detailed description of the situation in the first days of the war was made by the chief of staff of the German ground forces, Colonel-General Franz Halder:

“The border bridges across the Bug and other rivers have been everywhere captured by our troops without a fight and in complete safety. The complete surprise of our offensive for the enemy is evidenced by the fact that the units were taken by surprise in the barracks, the planes stood at the airfields, covered with tarpaulins, and the advanced units, suddenly attacked by our troops, asked the command what to do ...

... After the initial "tetanus" caused by the suddenness of the attack, the enemy proceeded to active operations ... It seems that the Russian command, due to its sluggishness, will not be able to organize operational opposition to our offensive in the near future at all. The Russians are forced to accept the battle in the grouping in which they were at the beginning of our offensive.

Our advancing divisions, wherever the enemy tried to offer resistance, threw him back and advanced 10-12 km in combat! Thus, the way to mobile connections is open.

The Air Force command reported that 850 enemy aircraft have been destroyed to date, including entire squadrons of bombers, which, having taken to the air without fighter cover, were attacked by our fighters and destroyed.

“At dawn on June 22, 1941, the regular troops of the German army attacked our border units on the front from the Baltic to the Black Sea and were held back by them during the first half of the day. From the second half of the day, the German troops met with the advanced units of the field troops of the Red Army. After fierce fighting, the enemy was repulsed with heavy losses. Only in the Grodno and Krystynopol directions did the enemy manage to achieve minor tactical successes and occupy the towns of Kalvaria, Stojanow and Tsekhanovets, the first two 15 km and the last 10 km from the border.

Enemy aviation attacked a number of our airfields and settlements, but everywhere they met a decisive rebuff from our fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We shot down 65 enemy planes.”

(“Pravda”, 06/22/1991)

Comparison of the reports of the command of the Soviet and German sides about the battles on the first day of the war confirms the well-known saying: nowhere do they lie so much as in war and hunting!

The main ideologist and propagandist of the Nazi Reich, Joseph Goebbels, made the following entry in his diary about the first days of the war:

The attack on Russia will begin at 03:30 at night - 160 completed divisions. The offensive line is 3000 km long. The world's largest concentration of troops ... This cancerous tumor must be burned out with a red-hot iron. Stalin must fall...

... Our air attack is 900 dive bombers and 200 fighters. Hostilities began along the entire front ... Russian aviation immediately suffered terrible losses: 200 aircraft shot down, 200 broken on the ground, 200 damaged. Take Brest. The Fuhrer leaves for the front ... Russian prisoners, trembling all over, get out of the dugouts

Churchill speaks with insane abuse against the Fuhrer and confirmation of the cooperation of London and Moscow against the Germans. ( Note. A summary of W. Churchill's speech of June 22, 1941 will be given below.)

In the East, in the first two days, 2585 Russian aircraft were destroyed in comparison with 51 in our country. Leningrad is on fire.

... We are deeply wedged into Russian territory. Kovno - Vilna, Slonim and Brest-Litovsk are in our hands. The Russians defend bravely. They are losing countless tanks and planes. This is the precondition for victory.

On the southern sector of the front - maneuvering. Minsk is in our hands. The first big bag begins to be tied in a knot, it will contain many prisoners and all kinds of equipment ... Finland officially enters the war. Sweden misses one German division. Denmark is for us, in Spain - a demonstration against Moscow. Italy will send an expeditionary force...

... The first large boiler is almost closed. The Russians defend themselves valiantly. Their command is operationally better than in the early days. The Fuhrer is in the best state of mind.

...Achieved superiority in the air. Grodno, Vilna, Brest-Litovsk and Dvinsk are in our hands. To the east of Bialystok, 2 Red armies are surrounded, their breakthrough is excluded. Minsk is also in our hands. The Russians lost 2,233 tanks and 4,107 aircraft. About 50 million leaflets for the Red Army have already been printed and will be dropped by our aviation.

Very stubborn and fierce battles are going on in the East. There is no question of any walk. The red regime set the people in motion. The situation is not serious, but severe and requires the use of all forces.

Yesterday, a cauldron closed in the Bialystok region, 20 divisions, 100,000 people were taken prisoner, boundless trophies were captured ... A decisive act of historical significance was accomplished.

On the morning of July 3, Stalin delivered a speech. Defensive speech of bad conscience, saturated with deep pessimism. He paints the gravity of the situation, calls for the sabotage of our offensive, warns against alarmists and hostile rumors... Burn crops and all supplies... The impression is that we are eyewitnesses to the greatest battle of annihilation in history. The resistance of the reds seems to be gradually broken along the entire line. Bolshevism is going through a grave crisis.

In the Rogachev area, the Dnieper was crossed, thereby breaking through the Stalin line ... Our troops are approaching Smolensk. Near Minsk, 20,000 Bolsheviks surrendered, having previously shot their commissars. Chiang Kai-shek's regime broke off relations with us.

A great propaganda offensive against the Bolsheviks was launched - with the help of the press, radio, cinema and propaganda. Tendency: Bolshevism is the scourge of mankind, a bad disease that must be burned out with a red-hot iron... Eden delivers a speech in which he refuses to negotiate with us.

Major operations are again being deployed on the Eastern Front. Near Minsk, 53,000 Bolsheviks fled to us. However, in some places the Reds put up stubborn resistance ... We have 300,000 prisoners. Moscow is in a very gloomy mood.

... Red aviation no longer has any strike force - there are no air raids.

… We will not rest until the red bonzes fly. We succeeded in 1933 (in Germany), and we will succeed this time as well. Surrender is the slogan of our leaflets...

No one doubts our victory over Russia anymore.” (At this date, the entries in the 1st part of the German edition break off.)

("Spark", 1991, No. 32 and No. 33.)

From a speech on the radio on June 22, 1941 by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (it was mentioned in a diary entry on June 23 by J. Goebbels):

“Today at four o’clock in the morning, Hitler attacked and invaded Russia. At the same time, the usual insidious tricks were used in the most scrupulous way ...

Thus, on a much larger scale, the same pattern of all forms of trampling on agreements and international communication, which we witnessed in Norway, Denmark, Holland and Belgium, and which Mussolini, Hitler's accomplice and jackal, copied so conscientiously in Greece, was repeated on a much larger scale ...

In the last 25 years there has not been a more consistent opponent of communism than myself. I won't take back a single word I said about him. But all this pales before the spectacle now unfolding. The danger that threatens Russia is a danger that threatens us and the United States, just as the cause of every Russian who fights for his hearth and home is the cause of free peoples in all parts of the globe.

In the morning of the same day, British Foreign Minister A. Eden invited the USSR Ambassador to Great Britain, I. M. Maisky. In the course of the conversation, the minister declared that Germany's declaration of war on the Soviet Union in no way changed Britain's policy, that her actions in the struggle against Germany would not only not weaken, but, on the contrary, would intensify. Yesterday, British aircraft made a major raid on France, shooting down 29 German aircraft. Powerful raids were also launched today. In general, the British Government is now intensifying the air war in the west to the maximum in order to divert a certain number of German aircraft from the east and at the same time to gain air supremacy over Northern France. The British Government is ready to assist the Soviet Union in everything it can, and asks the Ambassador to indicate exactly what we need.

At parting with the Soviet ambassador, Eden said thoughtfully: "This is the beginning of the end for Hitler." (“Pravda”, 06/22/1991)

From the point of view of an objective understanding of the situation in Europe at the beginning of the war, the diary entries of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Count Galeazzo Ciano, are of particular interest:

At a meeting with Ciano on June 15, Ribbentrop replied evasively to a question from his interlocutor: “I can’t tell you anything yet. The solution is hidden in the Fuhrer's impenetrable chest. But be that as it may, there is no doubt about one thing: if we attack, within eight weeks Stalin's Russia will be erased from the geographical map.

The Germans informed us about the attack on Russia half an hour after the troops of the Reich crossed the eastern border.

An employee of the German embassy in Rome, Bismarck at three o'clock in the morning brings a long message from Hitler to the Duce ... The Duce is captured by the idea of ​​​​participating in the war also Italian units. But from the message of the Fuhrer it followed that he would like to do without them.

It seems that in Minsk the Germans ran into the strongest resistance from the Russians, which pleases the Duce.

Quite disappointing news from the Russian front. The Russians are fighting courageously, and the Germans, for the first time in the entire war, are forced to admit that they had to retreat in two sectors.

The wife of the head of the protocol department of the German Foreign Ministry, Dornberg, does not hide her views: “This is a war that we cannot win.”

The Duce fears that Germany has taken on too much of a challenge and will not achieve a radical solution to the problem before the start of winter, which calls into question many things.

News from the Russian front suggests that the offensive is shaky and very costly.

The dispatch of Italian troops to Russia became an obsession with the Duce. In the spring, he wants to transfer another 20 divisions there in order to avoid Germany treating Italy at the moment of victory as with other defeated peoples.

Hitler writes to himself... Europe will be subordinated to Germany. The defeated states will turn into German colonies. The allied states will become German provinces. Among them, Italy will be the most important.

The Germans informed the Duce about their military plans: in 1942 to liquidate Russia, to capture Egypt, in 1943 to capture the island (England).

During the trip of the German military attache Rintelen to the Eastern Front to meet with Hitler, he was surrounded by German generals and marshals and begged him to find a way to make Hitler understand that the war with Russia was pure madness, that the German army was not able to withstand such tension, that he, Hitler pushing Germany towards disaster. It seems that this is the unanimous opinion of all the major German military, but none of them dares to tell Hitler about it. Rintelen, of course, also did not hint at this when speaking to Hitler.

Mussolini is pleased with the course of the war in Russia. From now on, he talks about it openly. The failures of the German troops please him.

Brauchitsch is removed from the post of commander of the ground forces. This indicates a serious crisis.

The news from the Russian front continues to be unfavorable. Mussolini is also concerned about this ... The position of the Germans is not the best.

The retreat in Russia weighs heavily on the Germans as a personal misfortune.

The Duce protests against the unbridledness of German soldiers in Italy, impudent, aggressive, shameless drunkards.

An employee of the Italian embassy in Berlin paints a very gloomy picture: hopes for victory are buried in the Russian steppes...

The head of the German Abwehr, Canaris, told his Italian colleague, Colonel Ame, that the internal situation in Germany was difficult from the point of view of both material and moral. The army is in a sour mood and at odds with politicians. Little faith in the success of the spring offensive.

Meeting of Italian leaders with Hitler and Ribbentrop, who said that Hitler's genius had conquered the Russian cold. Offensive against the Russians in the south to capture oil fields. Russia will not be able to continue the fight, having lost sources of fuel. That's when the British conservatives - after all, Churchill is a reasonable person - will do anything to save their crumbling empire.

... On the streets of German cities you will not see healthy men. Only women, children and old people. Foreign workers are real serfs.

Losses in Russia are big. Ribbentrop gave a figure of 270,000 killed. The Italian general Marras increases this figure to 700,000. And together with the crippled, frostbitten and seriously wounded, this figure reaches almost three million people.

British aviation delivers strong blows, Rostock and Lübeck are literally swept off the face of the earth. Cologne was also badly damaged. The Germans strike back at the English cities, but they are less effective. The Germans are used to others suffering, not them. They, who have devastated half of Europe, are shedding crocodile tears over the cruelty of the British, who are depriving many innocent Prussian families of their home. And the most amazing thing is that they quite sincerely think so.

According to Italian intelligence, the morale of the German army is very poor from all points of view. There is a general decline in morale, and the prospect of another winter to be spent on the Russian front drives the military to despair. There are still many suicides among soldiers who prefer death to return to the front.

The Italian journalist Sorretino, who returned from Russia, said that the Germans are behaving with amazing, criminal cruelty, which is hard to even imagine. Mass extermination of the population, violence against women, murder of children.

On the other hand, the firm determination of the Russians to fight and stand to the death, not losing faith in victory for a minute. And the morale of the German troops fell incredibly low.

During lengthy negotiations, Ribbentrop expressed restrained, albeit optimistic, assessments. The former statements: "We have already won the war" are now replaced by the words: "We cannot lose this war." It's a completely different song. He spoke of Russia as a tough, very tough nut to crack and thought that even a Japanese attack could not have brought the Soviets to defeat.

In Libya, the German commander-in-chief in North Africa is on the run. Great friction between the German and Italian troops ... It even comes to skirmishes. The Germans took all the trucks for their needs in order to drape quickly, and left the Italian divisions in the desert, where a lot of people are dying of hunger and thirst.

When Ciano arrived at Hitler's headquarters in Berlin, none of the Germans hid from him or from his employees the depression into which they were plunged by the news of the collapse on the Russian front. They are openly trying to shift the blame for this to the Italians.

The Duce declared his determination to go with Germany to the end. He hopes that “five hundred Tiger tanks, five hundred thousand reservists called up under arms, and new German weapons can still radically change the situation ...”

The Duce believes that today's report of the Germans on the course of hostilities is the worst of the entire war. A breakthrough in Stalingrad, a retreat along almost the entire front.

The surrender of Voronezh by the Germans has been announced. (The magazine "Abroad", 1985, No. 27.)

author Martirosyan Arsen Benikovich

Myth No. 2. The tragedy of June 22, 1941 occurred because Stalin planned "Operation Thunderstorm" - a preventive attack on Germany, which was planned for July 6, 1941, but Hitler got ahead of him and attacked himself Well, just like in the famous song Dear Alla Borisovna Pugacheva

From the book Tragedy of 1941 author Martirosyan Arsen Benikovich

Myth No. 9. The tragedy of June 22, 1941 occurred because, with the TASS message of June 14, 1941, Stalin disorientated the country's top military leadership, which as a result led to extremely sad consequences. We are talking about the famous TASS message published in the Soviet

From the book Tragedy of 1941 author Martirosyan Arsen Benikovich

Myth No. 18. The tragedy of June 22, 1941 occurred because, according to Stalin's plan, the USSR was not preparing for a defensive war with Nazi Germany. One of the most stupid complex myths in the entire mythology of the Great Patriotic War. Launched into propaganda circulation

From the book Tragedy of 1941 author Martirosyan Arsen Benikovich

Myth No. 24. The tragedy of June 22, 1941 occurred because Stalin did not allow the troops to be put on alert, as a result of which the attack turned out to be not only sudden, but also led to catastrophic consequences In all mythology about the causes of the tragedy of June 22, 1941, this

From the book Hidden Pages of Soviet History. author Bondarenko Alexander Yulievich

Message from the NKGB of the USSR June 17, 1941 MESSAGE from the NKGB of the USSR to I. V. STALIN AND V. M. MOLOTOV No. 2279/m June 17, 1941 Top secret. Merkulov Post from

From the book June 22: There was no "suddenness"! [How Stalin missed a beat] author Melekhov Andrey M.

Note of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Soviet Government dated June 21, 1941 Memorandum I

From the book World War II. 1939–1945 History of the great war author Shefov Nikolai Alexandrovich

German attack on the USSR Frontier battles On June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. On this day, at 3:30, German troops invaded the territory of the USSR without declaring war. Romania, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary and

From the book June 1941. 10 days from the life of I. V. Stalin author Kostin Andrey L

2. SPEECH BY V. M. MOLOTOV, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE SNK AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE USSR, ON RADIO JUNE 22, 1941 Citizens and women of the Soviet Union! The Soviet government and its head Comrade Stalin instructed me to make the following statement:

From the book 500 famous historical events author Karnatsevich Vladislav Leonidovich

GERMANY ATTACK ON THE USSR The Soviet Union became the next object of Hitlerite aggression after the capture of Yugoslavia and Greece. The clash of the two superpowers of that time was inevitable, which both Hitler and Stalin understood. Neither one nor the other was going to put up with a possible

From the book What we know and what we do not know about the Great Patriotic War author Skorokhod Yuri Vsevolodovich

4. Why the England-Germany alliance did not take place, who started the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War, why the USSR did not expect the German attack on June 22, 1941 and the final alignment of forces

From the book Hitler's Headquarters "Werwolf" in space and time author Zagorodny Ivan Maksimovich

"The attack on Germany will begin on June 12, 1941 ..." In September 1939, the USSR declared itself a neutral state and ... until June 1941 captured a territory with a population of 23 million people. Stalin did not hide his strategic plans: “We need to draw Europe into the war, while remaining

From the book Chronology of Russian History. Russia and the world author Anisimov Evgeny Viktorovich

1941, June 22 German attack on the USSR In the summer of 1940, Hitler instructed the General Staff to start developing plans for a war against the USSR. Meanwhile, the German army occupied France, Yugoslavia and Greece. By the summer of 1941, the Germans had transferred to the Soviet border a huge mass of those released in

From the book Stalin. Secret "Scenario" of the beginning of the war author Verkhovsky Yakov

Chapter nine. "SUDDEN" ATTACK! June 22, 1941. 3 hours 15 minutes in the morning ... in our times, the speed of concentration of military forces has changed to the side of increase, and it seems that the benefits of the surprise of the "direction of forces" have increased, but the means of reconnaissance of the enemy's intentions have also improved

From the book On the Eve of June 22, 1941. feature stories author Vishlev Oleg Viktorovich

Soviet-German relations (beginning of June 1941). TASS report of June 13, 1941 While awaiting negotiations with Germany, the Soviet leadership nevertheless took steps to prepare to repel a possible attack. However, at the diplomatic level, in relations between the USSR and

author Israelyan Viktor Levonovich

Germany's attack on the USSR At dawn on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany treacherously, without a preliminary declaration of war, attacked the Soviet Union. The Nazis threw against the Soviet country almost all the enormous power of the military machine of German imperialism, as well as

From the book Diplomacy during the war years (1941–1945) author Israelyan Viktor Levonovich

Washington's reaction to Germany's attack on the USSR Hitler's treacherous attack on the Soviet Union aroused widespread indignation in the United States. Many political, public and trade union organizations in the United States immediately issued declarations announcing

The first 4 hours of the Great Patriotic War.

For the first time, the events of the first day of the war are told directly at the sites of the main hostilities. There is a lot of new, unknown to the viewer information in the film. For example, about the fact that the first Soviet city was recaptured from the Germans on June 23, 1941! About the fierce battles in the Vladimir-Volynsky region, about the feat of the garrisons of the Soviet fortified areas, about the fact that the Soviet Air Force was not destroyed, as the almost official myth says, as well as about other little-known pages of the war.

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War

Get up, great country,
Get up for the death fight
With dark fascist power,
With the damned horde!

On the fifth day of the war, the whole country sang this song to the verses of Lebedev-Kumach and the music of Aleksandrov.

And the war began at dawn on June 22, 1941. Fascist Germany treacherously, without declaring war, attacked the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Its aircraft delivered massive strikes against airfields, railway junctions, naval bases, quarterings for military units and many cities to a depth of 250-300 km from the border.

Here it is necessary to remember that the Soviet Union in 1941 was going to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the Great October Revolution.

During these 24 years, our country has achieved a lot. Automobile plants were built in Moscow, Gorky, Yaroslavl. Tractor factories appeared in Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kharkov, Chelyabinsk. All of them could make tanks. Our aviation set world records for flight range. The Soviet state could resist any other state, but it was difficult for us to fight all of Europe.

Nazi Germany and its satellites concentrated large contingents of troops against the Soviet Union - 190 divisions (including 19 tank and 14 motorized) and a large amount of military equipment: about 4300 tanks and assault guns, 47.2 thousand guns and mortars, 4980 combat aircraft and over 190 warships. And all this power was thrown at our country. From the ice of the Arctic to the Black Sea, the war scorched the fire of conflagrations, destroyed cities and burned villages, and civilians died.

According to the Barbarossa plan, Germany wanted to defeat the Soviet Union in six weeks. At the same time, the main forces of the Red Army were supposed to be destroyed, preventing them from retreating into the depths of the country. But the plans of the fascist command from the very beginning of the war were thwarted by the courage and heroism of our army and the whole people.

First hit

The frontier troops and divisions located near the border were the first to receive the enemy's blow. We had more than 500 frontier outposts along the western border. The Nazi command allotted no more than 30 minutes for the destruction of the outpost. But the outposts fought for days and weeks, and the Brest Fortress, located on the border at the confluence of the Mukhavets River with the Bug River, fought with enemies for more than a month. All this time, the defenders of the Brest Fortress fettered an entire Nazi division. Most of the defenders of the fortress fell in battle, some made their way to the partisans, some of the seriously wounded, exhausted, were captured. The defense of the Brest Fortress is a vivid example of patriotism and mass heroism of Soviet soldiers. Representatives of 30 nations and nationalities of the Soviet Union fought among the defenders of the Brest Fortress.

But, despite the heroic resistance, the covering troops could not detain the enemy in the border zone. In order to save forces, the Soviet troops were forced to retreat to new lines.

The Nazi troops in a short time advanced 400-450 km northwest, 450-600 km in the west, 300-350 km southwest, captured the territory of Lithuania, Latvia, part of Estonia, a significant part of Ukraine, almost all of Belarus, Moldova, invaded the western regions of the Russian Federation, reached the distant approaches to Leningrad, threatened Smolensk and Kyiv. Mortal danger hung over the Soviet Union.

Based on the prevailing situation, the Soviet command at the end of June decided to switch to strategic defense on the entire Soviet-German front. The troops of the first strategic echelon were given the task of preparing a system of echeloned defensive lines and lines in the directions of the main attacks of the enemy, relying on which, by stubborn and active opposition, to undermine the offensive power of the enemy, stop him and buy time to prepare a counteroffensive.

The feat of the army and the people

The perfidious attack of Nazi Germany aroused the anger and indignation of the Soviet people. In a single impulse, he rose to the defense of his homeland. At rallies that swept across the country, the Soviet people stigmatized the fascist barbarians and swore to severely punish the invaders who broke in. Military registration and enlistment offices were stormed by thousands of young men and women, men and women - communists, Komsomol members and non-party people. They demanded immediate dispatch to the front, filed an application with a request to be sent behind enemy lines, to partisan detachments.

The misfortune that befell the Fatherland rallied the whole people as never before. The whole people, the whole vast country rose up to fight to the death for a holy and just cause. Every day that passed both at the front and in the rear was measured by the answer to the question: What did you do for the front, for victory? The efforts of the whole people - soldiers, workers, collective farmers, intellectuals - were subordinated to one goal - to defend the Motherland from the fascist barbarians. And for this he spared neither his strength nor his life.

The word patriotism acquired a special meaning and meaning. It did not require any translations or explanations. Love for the Motherland beat in the heart of every Soviet person: whether he stood for the fifth day in the workshop at the machine tool or went to ram an enemy aircraft, whether he gave his personal savings to the defense fund or blood for wounded soldiers.

Already in the first days and weeks of the war, thousands of feats and boundless self-sacrifice of the bravest Soviet soldiers were inscribed in its annals. At that time, the names of most of these courageous people who fought to the last bullet, to the last drop of blood, were not yet known.

The results of these days and weeks, the most difficult for the Soviet people and their soldiers, already testified to the first failures in the implementation of Hitler's plans for a "blitzkrieg".

The enemy failed to destroy the main forces of the Soviet Army in the border battles, as he expected. The resistance of our troops grew every day. And in the deep rear, reserves for the front were being prepared at an accelerated pace. It was incredibly difficult to form, arm and train new regiments, divisions of the Soviet Army, but every day an increasingly powerful stream of fresh reserves went to the front. He significantly exceeded the reserves of the enemy, coming to the front to make up for the losses he had suffered.

Hundreds of industrial enterprises were at that time on wheels - they were relocated from threatened areas to the deep rear of the country. It took time to install the equipment and put it into operation in new places. The most active part of the working class and specialists of operating enterprises left for the ranks of the Soviet Army. Only a small part of skilled workers and specialists remained at the enterprises, without which it was impossible to start mass production of military products. Those leaving for the front were replaced by hundreds of thousands of women and teenagers.

But even these difficulties were overcome in the shortest possible time. The production of weapons, military equipment, ammunition and various equipment for the defenders of the Motherland increased every day.

Mass labor heroism was also shown by the workers of socialist agriculture. Collective farms and state farms transferred a huge number of tractors and motor vehicles to equip the reserves of troops. There are even fewer men left in this sector of the economy than in industry and transport. And in the countryside, women and teenagers became the decisive force. It was they who had to harvest the vast sown areas. Remove mostly by hand. In front-line areas, harvesting was often carried out under enemy fire. And, nevertheless, with the help of hundreds of thousands of citizens, students and schoolchildren, agricultural workers also coped with the most important task for the front and the whole country - they laid in the state bins such an amount of food without which the war would have been successful.

In its entire course, the war showed that the courage and heroism of the Soviet people turned out to be an invincible force that managed to prevent the gravest crime against humanity.

THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

The eve of the war. In the spring of 1941, the approach of war was felt by everyone. Soviet intelligence reported almost daily to Stalin about Hitler's plans. For example, Richard Sorge (a Soviet intelligence officer in Japan) reported not only the transfer of German troops, but also the timing of the German attack. However, Stalin did not believe these reports, as he was sure that Hitler would not start a war with the USSR as long as England resisted. He believed that a clash with Germany could not occur until the summer of 1942. Therefore, Stalin sought to use the remaining time to prepare for war with maximum benefit. On May 5, 1941, he assumed the powers of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. He did not rule out the possibility of delivering a preventive strike against Germany.

There was a concentration of a huge number of troops on the border with Germany. At the same time, it was impossible to give the Germans a reason to accuse them of violating the non-aggression pact. Therefore, despite the obvious preparation of Germany for aggression against the USSR, Stalin only on the night of June 22 gave the order to bring the troops of the border districts into combat readiness. This directive came to the troops already when German aircraft bombed Soviet cities.

The beginning of the war. At dawn on June 22, 1941, the German army attacked Soviet soil with all its might. Thousands of artillery pieces opened fire. Aviation attacked airfields, military garrisons, communication centers, command posts of the Red Army, the largest industrial facilities in Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people began, which lasted 1418 days and nights.

The country's leadership did not immediately understand what exactly happened. Still fearing provocations from the Germans, Stalin, even in the conditions of the outbreak of war, did not want to believe in what had happened. In the new directive, he ordered the troops to "defeat the enemy", but "not to cross the state border" with Germany.

At noon on the first day of the war, V. M. Molotov, First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR, addressed the people. Calling on the Soviet people to give a decisive rebuff to the enemy, he expressed confidence that the country would defend its freedom and independence. Molotov ended his speech with the words that became the program setting for all the years of the war: "Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours."

On the same day, a general mobilization of those liable for military service was announced, martial law was introduced in the western regions of the country, and the Northern, Northwestern, Western, Southwestern, and Southern fronts were formed. To guide them, on June 23, the Headquarters of the High Command (later - the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command) was created, which included I.V. Stalin, V.M. Molotov, S.K. Timoshenko, S.M. Budyonny, K.E. Voroshilov, B. M. Shaposhnikov and G. K. Zhukov. I. V. Stalin was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

The war required the rejection of a number of democratic forms of government, provided for by the 1936 Constitution.

On June 30, all power was concentrated in the hands of the State Defense Committee (GKO), whose chairman was Stalin. At the same time, the activities of the constitutional authorities continued.

Forces and plans of the parties. On June 22, two of the then largest military forces clashed in mortal combat. Germany and Italy, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, which acted on its side, had 190 divisions against 170 Soviet ones. The number of opposing troops on both sides was approximately equal and totaled about 6 million people. Approximately equal on both sides was the number of guns and mortars (48 thousand from Germany and the allies, 47 thousand from the USSR). In terms of the number of tanks (9.2 thousand) and aircraft (8.5 thousand), the USSR surpassed Germany and its allies (4.3 thousand and 5 thousand, respectively).

Taking into account the experience of military operations in Europe, the Barbarossa plan provided for a "blitzkrieg" war against the USSR in three main directions - against Leningrad (Army Group North), Moscow ("Center") and Kyiv ("South"). In a short time, with the help of mainly tank strikes, it was supposed to defeat the main forces of the Red Army and reach the Arkhangelsk-Volga-Astrakhan line.

The basis of the tactics of the Red Army before the war was the concept of conducting military operations "with little blood, on foreign territory." However, the attack of the Nazi armies forced to reconsider these plans.

The failures of the Red Army in the summer - autumn of 1941. The suddenness and power of the German strike were so great that within three weeks Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, a significant part of Ukraine, Moldova and Estonia were occupied. The enemy advanced 350-600 km deep into the Soviet land. In a short time, the Red Army lost more than 100 divisions (three-fifths of all troops in the western border districts). More than 20,000 guns and mortars, 3,500 aircraft were destroyed or captured by the enemy (of which 1,200 were destroyed right on the airfields on the first day of the war), 6,000 tanks, and more than half of the logistics depots. The main forces of the troops of the Western Front were surrounded. In fact, in the first weeks of the war, all the forces of the "first echelon" of the Red Army were defeated. It seemed that a military catastrophe in the USSR was inevitable.

However, the "easy walk" for the Germans (which the Nazi generals, intoxicated with victories in Western Europe, counted on) did not work out. In the first weeks of the war, the enemy lost up to 100 thousand people alone (this exceeded all the losses of the Nazi army in previous wars), 40% of tanks, almost 1 thousand aircraft. Nevertheless, the German army continued to maintain a decisive superiority of forces.

Battle for Moscow. The stubborn resistance of the Red Army near Smolensk, Leningrad, Kyiv, Odessa, and in other sectors of the front did not allow the Germans to carry out their plans to capture Moscow by early autumn. Only after the encirclement of large forces (665 thousand people) of the Southwestern Front and the capture of Kyiv by the enemy did the Germans begin preparations for the capture of the Soviet capital. This operation was called "Typhoon". To implement it, the German command ensured a significant superiority in manpower (3-3.5 times) and equipment in the directions of the main attacks: tanks - 5-6 times, artillery - 4-5 times. The dominance of German aviation remained overwhelming.

On September 30, 1941, the Nazis began a general offensive against Moscow. They managed not only to break through the defenses of the stubbornly resisting Soviet troops, but also to surround four armies to the west of Vyazma and two to the south of Bryansk. In these "cauldrons" 663 thousand people were taken prisoner. However, the encircled Soviet troops continued to pin down up to 20 enemy divisions. For Moscow, a critical situation has developed. The fighting was already going on 80-100 km from the capital. To stop the advance of the Germans, the Mozhaisk line of defense was hastily strengthened, reserve troops were pulled up. G.K. Zhukov, who was appointed commander of the Western Front, was urgently recalled from Leningrad.

Despite all these measures, by mid-October the enemy came close to the capital. The Kremlin towers were perfectly visible through German binoculars. By decision of the State Defense Committee, the evacuation of government agencies, the diplomatic corps, large industrial enterprises, and the population from Moscow began. In the event of a breakthrough by the Nazis, all the most important objects of the city had to be destroyed. On October 20, a state of siege was introduced in Moscow.

In the first days of November, the German offensive was stopped by the colossal exertion of forces, the unparalleled courage and heroism of the defenders of the capital. On November 7, as before, a military parade took place on Red Square, the participants of which immediately left for the front line.

However, in mid-November, the Nazi offensive resumed with renewed vigor. Only the stubborn resistance of the Soviet soldiers again saved the capital. The 316th Rifle Division under the command of General I.V. Panfilov distinguished itself, repulsing several tank attacks on the most difficult first day of the German offensive. The feat of a group of Panfilovites led by political instructor V. G. Klochkov, who for a long time detained more than 30 enemy tanks, became legendary. The words of Klochkov, addressed to the soldiers, spread all over the country: "Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat: behind is Moscow!"

By the end of November, the troops of the Western Front received significant reinforcements from the eastern regions of the country, which made it possible on December 5-6, 1941 to launch a counteroffensive of Soviet troops near Moscow. In the very first days of the Moscow battle, the cities of Kalinin, Solnechnogorsk, Klin, and Istra were liberated. In total, during the winter offensive, Soviet troops defeated 38 German divisions. The enemy was pushed back from Moscow by 100-250 km. This was the first major defeat of the German troops during the entire Second World War.

The victory near Moscow was of great military and political significance. She dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the Nazi army and the hopes of the Nazis for a "blitzkrieg". Japan and Turkey finally refused to enter the war on the side of Germany. The process of creating the Anti-Hitler coalition was accelerated.

THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE OF 1942

The situation at the front in the spring of 1942. Side plans. The victory near Moscow gave rise to the illusions of the Soviet leadership regarding the possibility of a quick defeat of the German troops and the end of the war. In January 1942, Stalin set the Red Army the task of going over to the general offensive. This task has been repeated in other documents.

The only one who opposed the simultaneous offensive of the Soviet troops in all three main strategic directions was G.K. Zhukov. He rightly believed that there were no prepared reserves for this. However, under pressure from Stalin, the Headquarters nevertheless decided to attack. The dissipation of already modest resources (by this time the Red Army had lost up to 6 million people killed, wounded, captured) was bound to lead to failure.

Stalin believed that in the spring - summer of 1942 the Germans would launch a new offensive against Moscow, and ordered that significant reserve forces be concentrated in the western direction. Hitler, on the contrary, considered the strategic goal of the forthcoming campaign a large-scale offensive in the southwestern direction with the aim of breaking through the defenses of the Red Army and capturing the lower Volga and the Caucasus. In order to hide their true intentions, the Germans developed a special plan to misinform the Soviet military command and political leadership, codenamed "Kremlin". Their plan was largely successful. All this had grave consequences for the situation on the Soviet-German front in 1942.

German offensive in the summer of 1942. Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. By the spring of 1942, the superiority of forces still remained on the side of the German troops. Before launching a general offensive in the southeastern direction, the Germans decided to completely seize the Crimea, where the defenders of Sevastopol and the Kerch Peninsula continued to offer heroic resistance to the enemy. The May offensive of the Nazis ended in tragedy: in ten days the troops of the Crimean Front were defeated. The losses of the Red Army here amounted to 176 thousand people, 347 tanks, 3476 guns and mortars, 400 aircraft. On July 4, Soviet troops were forced to leave the city of Russian glory Sevastopol.

In May, Soviet troops went on the offensive in the Kharkov region, but suffered a severe defeat. The troops of the two armies were surrounded and destroyed. Our losses amounted to 230 thousand people, more than 5 thousand guns and mortars, 755 tanks. The strategic initiative was again firmly captured by the German command.

At the end of June, German troops rushed to the southeast: they occupied the Donbass and reached the Don. There was a direct threat to Stalingrad. On July 24, Rostov-on-Don, the gates of the Caucasus, fell. Only now did Stalin understand the true purpose of the German summer offensive. But it was too late to change anything. Fearing the rapid loss of the entire Soviet South, on July 28, 1942, Stalin issued Order No. 227, in which, under the threat of execution, he forbade the troops to leave the front line without instructions from the higher command. This order went down in the history of the war under the name "Not a step back!"

In early September, street fighting broke out in Stalingrad, destroyed to the ground. But the stubbornness and courage of the Soviet defenders of the city on the Volga seemed to do the impossible - by mid-November, the offensive capabilities of the Germans had completely dried up. By this time, in the battles for Stalingrad, they had lost almost 700 thousand killed and wounded, over 1 thousand tanks and over 1.4 thousand aircraft. The Germans not only failed to occupy the city, but went on the defensive.

occupation regime. By the autumn of 1942, German troops managed to capture most of the European territory of the USSR. A strict occupation regime was established in the cities and villages they occupied. The main goals of Germany in the war against the USSR were the destruction of the Soviet state, the transformation of the Soviet Union into an agrarian and raw material appendage and a source of cheap labor for the "Third Reich".

In the occupied territories, the former governing bodies were liquidated. All power belonged to the military command of the German army. In the summer of 1941, special courts were introduced, which were given the right to pass death sentences for disobedience to the invaders. Death camps were created for prisoners of war and those Soviet people who sabotaged the decisions of the German authorities. Everywhere the occupiers staged demonstrative executions of party and Soviet activists, members of the underground.

All citizens of the occupied territories aged 18 to 45 were affected by labor mobilization. They had to work 14-16 hours a day. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet people were sent for forced labor in Germany.

The "Ost" plan, developed by the Nazis even before the war, contained a program for the "development" of Eastern Europe. According to this plan, it was supposed to destroy 30 million Russians, and turn the rest into slaves and resettle in Siberia. During the war years in the occupied territories of the USSR, the Nazis killed about 11 million people (including about 7 million civilians and about 4 million prisoners of war).

Partisan and underground movement. The threat of physical violence did not stop the Soviet people in the fight against the enemy, not only at the front, but also in the rear. The Soviet underground movement arose already in the first weeks of the war. In places subjected to occupation, party organs operated illegally.

During the war years, more than 6 thousand partisan detachments were formed, in which more than 1 million people fought. Representatives of most of the peoples of the USSR, as well as citizens of other countries, acted in their ranks. Soviet partisans destroyed, wounded and captured more than 1 million enemy soldiers and officers, representatives of the occupation administration, disabled more than 4 thousand tanks and armored vehicles, 65 thousand vehicles and 1100 aircraft. They destroyed and damaged 1,600 railway bridges and derailed over 20,000 railway trains. To coordinate the actions of the partisans in 1942, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was created, headed by P.K. Ponomarenko.

The underground heroes acted not only against the enemy troops, but also carried out the death sentences of the Nazi executioners. The legendary scout N. I. Kuznetsov destroyed the chief judge of Ukraine Funk, the vice-governor of Galicia Bauer, kidnapped the commander of the German punitive forces in Ukraine, General Ilgen. The general commissioner of Belarus to Cuba was blown up by the underground worker E. Mazanik right in bed in his own residence.

During the war years, the state awarded more than 184 thousand partisans and underground fighters with orders and medals. 249 of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The legendary commanders of partisan formations S. A. Kovpak and A. F. Fedorov presented themselves for this award twice.

Formation of the Anti-Hitler coalition. From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Great Britain and the United States declared support for the Soviet Union. British Prime Minister W. Churchill, speaking on the radio on June 22, 1941, declared: "The danger to Russia is our danger and the danger of the United States, just as the cause of every Russian fighting for his land and home is the cause of free people and free peoples in every part of the world.

In July 1941, an agreement was signed between the USSR and Great Britain on joint actions in the war against Hitler, and in early August, the US government announced economic and military-technical assistance to the Soviet Union "in the struggle against armed aggression." In September 1941, the first conference of representatives of the three powers was held in Moscow, at which issues of expanding military-technical assistance from Great Britain and the United States to the Soviet Union were discussed. After the US entered the war against Japan and Germany (December 1941), their military cooperation with the USSR expanded even more.

On January 1, 1942, in Washington, representatives of 26 states signed a declaration in which they pledged to use all their resources to fight a common enemy and not conclude a separate peace. The treaty on the alliance between the USSR and Great Britain, signed in May 1942, and in June the agreement with the United States on mutual assistance finally formalized the military alliance of the three countries.

Results of the first period of the war. The first period of the Great Patriotic War, which lasted from June 22, 1941 to November 18, 1942 (until the Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive near Stalingrad), was of great historical significance. The Soviet Union withstood a military strike of such force that no other country could withstand at that time.

The courage and heroism of the Soviet people frustrated Hitler's plans for a "blitzkrieg". Despite heavy defeats during the first year of the struggle against Germany and its allies, the Red Army showed its high fighting qualities. By the summer of 1942, the transition of the country's economy to a war footing was basically completed, which laid the main prerequisite for a radical change in the course of the war. At this stage, the Anti-Hitler coalition took shape, which possessed huge military, economic and human resources.

What you need to know about this topic:

Socio-economic and political development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Nicholas II.

Domestic policy of tsarism. Nicholas II. Strengthening repression. "Police socialism".

Russo-Japanese War. Reasons, course, results.

Revolution of 1905 - 1907 The nature, driving forces and features of the Russian revolution of 1905-1907. stages of the revolution. The reasons for the defeat and the significance of the revolution.

Elections to the State Duma. I State Duma. The agrarian question in the Duma. Dispersal of the Duma. II State Duma. Coup d'état June 3, 1907

Third June political system. Electoral law June 3, 1907 III State Duma. The alignment of political forces in the Duma. Duma activities. government terror. The decline of the labor movement in 1907-1910

Stolypin agrarian reform.

IV State Duma. Party composition and Duma factions. Duma activity.

The political crisis in Russia on the eve of the war. The labor movement in the summer of 1914 Crisis of the top.

The international position of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

Beginning of the First World War. Origin and nature of war. Russia's entry into the war. Attitude towards the war of parties and classes.

The course of hostilities. Strategic forces and plans of the parties. Results of the war. The role of the Eastern Front in the First World War.

The Russian economy during the First World War.

Workers' and peasants' movement in 1915-1916. Revolutionary movement in the army and navy. Growing anti-war sentiment. Formation of the bourgeois opposition.

Russian culture of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

Aggravation of socio-political contradictions in the country in January-February 1917. The beginning, prerequisites and nature of the revolution. Uprising in Petrograd. Formation of the Petrograd Soviet. Provisional Committee of the State Duma. Order N I. Formation of the Provisional Government. Abdication of Nicholas II. Causes of dual power and its essence. February coup in Moscow, at the front, in the provinces.

From February to October. The policy of the Provisional Government in relation to war and peace, on agrarian, national, labor issues. Relations between the Provisional Government and the Soviets. The arrival of V.I. Lenin in Petrograd.

Political parties (Kadets, Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks): political programs, influence among the masses.

Crises of the Provisional Government. An attempted military coup in the country. Growth of revolutionary sentiment among the masses. Bolshevization of the capital Soviets.

Preparation and conduct of an armed uprising in Petrograd.

II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Decisions about power, peace, land. Formation of public authorities and management. Composition of the first Soviet government.

The victory of the armed uprising in Moscow. Government agreement with the Left SRs. Elections to the Constituent Assembly, its convocation and dissolution.

The first socio-economic transformations in the field of industry, agriculture, finance, labor and women's issues. Church and State.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, its terms and significance.

Economic tasks of the Soviet government in the spring of 1918. Aggravation of the food issue. The introduction of food dictatorship. Working squads. Comedy.

The revolt of the left SRs and the collapse of the two-party system in Russia.

First Soviet Constitution.

Causes of intervention and civil war. The course of hostilities. Human and material losses of the period of the civil war and military intervention.

The internal policy of the Soviet leadership during the war. "War Communism". GOELRO plan.

The policy of the new government in relation to culture.

Foreign policy. Treaties with border countries. Participation of Russia in the Genoa, Hague, Moscow and Lausanne conferences. Diplomatic recognition of the USSR by the main capitalist countries.

Domestic policy. Socio-economic and political crisis of the early 20s. Famine of 1921-1922 Transition to a new economic policy. The essence of the NEP. NEP in the field of agriculture, trade, industry. financial reform. Economic recovery. Crises during the NEP and its curtailment.

Projects for the creation of the USSR. I Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The first government and the Constitution of the USSR.

Illness and death of V.I. Lenin. Intraparty struggle. The beginning of the formation of Stalin's regime of power.

Industrialization and collectivization. Development and implementation of the first five-year plans. Socialist competition - purpose, forms, leaders.

Formation and strengthening of the state system of economic management.

The course towards complete collectivization. Dispossession.

Results of industrialization and collectivization.

Political, national-state development in the 30s. Intraparty struggle. political repression. Formation of the nomenklatura as a layer of managers. Stalinist regime and the constitution of the USSR in 1936

Soviet culture in the 20-30s.

Foreign policy of the second half of the 20s - mid-30s.

Domestic policy. The growth of military production. Extraordinary measures in the field of labor legislation. Measures to solve the grain problem. Military establishment. Growth of the Red Army. military reform. Repressions against the command personnel of the Red Army and the Red Army.

Foreign policy. Non-aggression pact and treaty of friendship and borders between the USSR and Germany. The entry of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus into the USSR. Soviet-Finnish war. The inclusion of the Baltic republics and other territories in the USSR.

Periodization of the Great Patriotic War. The initial stage of the war. Turning the country into a military camp. Military defeats 1941-1942 and their reasons. Major military events Capitulation of Nazi Germany. Participation of the USSR in the war with Japan.

Soviet rear during the war.

Deportation of peoples.

Partisan struggle.

Human and material losses during the war.

Creation of the anti-Hitler coalition. Declaration of the United Nations. The problem of the second front. Conferences of the "Big Three". Problems of post-war peace settlement and all-round cooperation. USSR and UN.

Beginning of the Cold War. The contribution of the USSR to the creation of the "socialist camp". CMEA formation.

Domestic policy of the USSR in the mid-1940s - early 1950s. Restoration of the national economy.

Socio-political life. Politics in the field of science and culture. Continued repression. "Leningrad business". Campaign against cosmopolitanism. "Doctors' Case".

Socio-economic development of Soviet society in the mid-50s - the first half of the 60s.

Socio-political development: XX Congress of the CPSU and the condemnation of Stalin's personality cult. Rehabilitation of victims of repressions and deportations. Intra-party struggle in the second half of the 1950s.

Foreign policy: the creation of the ATS. The entry of Soviet troops into Hungary. Exacerbation of Soviet-Chinese relations. The split of the "socialist camp". Soviet-American Relations and the Caribbean Crisis. USSR and third world countries. Reducing the strength of the armed forces of the USSR. Moscow Treaty on the Limitation of Nuclear Tests.

USSR in the mid-60s - the first half of the 80s.

Socio-economic development: economic reform 1965

Growing difficulties of economic development. Decline in the rate of socio-economic growth.

USSR Constitution 1977

Socio-political life of the USSR in the 1970s - early 1980s.

Foreign Policy: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Consolidation of post-war borders in Europe. Moscow treaty with Germany. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Soviet-American treaties of the 70s. Soviet-Chinese relations. The entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. Exacerbation of international tension and the USSR. Strengthening of the Soviet-American confrontation in the early 80s.

USSR in 1985-1991

Domestic policy: an attempt to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. An attempt to reform the political system of Soviet society. Congresses of People's Deputies. Election of the President of the USSR. Multi-party system. Exacerbation of the political crisis.

Exacerbation of the national question. Attempts to reform the national-state structure of the USSR. Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. "Novogarevsky process". The collapse of the USSR.

Foreign policy: Soviet-American relations and the problem of disarmament. Treaties with leading capitalist countries. The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Changing relations with the countries of the socialist community. Disintegration of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact.

Russian Federation in 1992-2000

Domestic policy: "Shock therapy" in the economy: price liberalization, stages of privatization of commercial and industrial enterprises. Fall in production. Increased social tension. Growth and slowdown in financial inflation. The aggravation of the struggle between the executive and legislative branches. The dissolution of the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of People's Deputies. October events of 1993. Abolition of local bodies of Soviet power. Elections to the Federal Assembly. The Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 Formation of the presidential republic. Aggravation and overcoming of national conflicts in the North Caucasus.

Parliamentary elections 1995 Presidential elections 1996 Power and opposition. An attempt to return to the course of liberal reforms (spring 1997) and its failure. The financial crisis of August 1998: causes, economic and political consequences. "Second Chechen War". Parliamentary elections in 1999 and early presidential elections in 2000 Foreign policy: Russia in the CIS. The participation of Russian troops in the "hot spots" of the near abroad: Moldova, Georgia, Tajikistan. Russia's relations with foreign countries. The withdrawal of Russian troops from Europe and neighboring countries. Russian-American agreements. Russia and NATO. Russia and the Council of Europe. Yugoslav crises (1999-2000) and Russia's position.

• Danilov A.A., Kosulina L.G. History of the state and peoples of Russia. XX century.